Sara Paretsky's Blog, page 24

Help Me Celebrate

Let's have a Party

I'm in San Francisco, nearing the end of the first 2 weeks of Hardball's publication.  I'm having a launch party at 57th Street Books in Chicago on Wednesday, October 7 at 6 p.m.  There will be delicious snacks from La Petite Folie, there will be wine, juice, and above all, books–not just mine, but all kinds!  Help me celebrate.

Books, books, books

Day 5 Houston

I was in Kansas City on Thursday, Lawrence  yesterday–where I got to see one of my brothers and his wife–and then on to Houston in a tiny spinewrecker airplane.  Last night in Lawrence two teen-aged boys came to the event and Ii was thinking, boy am I cool–I even speak to sixteen-year-old boys.  Turns out they'd been sent by their English teacher to sit through an author appearance, and afterwards, one asked me who I was.  I said my name and he asked if I was a writer, or just reading...

Day 3– DC to KC

Genny from the cyber community came down from Jersey to my signing in Bethesda last night–great to meet in person.  I had a brief time in the White House–wasn't allowed to take pictures, so imagine me getting an apple from the bowl the First Lady keeps in her office.

Tuesday night in Chicago–I outsold Dan Brown–I feel like my dog retrieving a particularly large football–she likes to steal them from the school field near our house  If I don't get to them in time she chews nice holes in them.

Whe...

On the Road

With V I and Hardball.  I'm leaving today, September 22, and will be home only briefly between now and October 19.  I'm looking forward to meeting some of the cyber team while I'm traveling, and I feel very fortunate that I have the chance to meet so many readers in person.  At the same time, it's hard to leave home, hard to leave husband and puppy behind.

Here are the three of us, at a burial for one of our granddaughter's stuffed animals–shredded by the dog in question

I'll try to post some u...

Hardball

"Voices like these can ring in your ears for 40 years and more," writes Marilyn Stasio about Hardball in the New York Times.

"Warshawski enabled the creation of contemporary female crimestoppers such as Grace Hanadarko (Holly Hunter) in the cable TV series Saving Grace," says Julia Keller in the Chicago Tribune.

Happy New Year

It's Rosh Hashannah today, the Jewish New Year, and I hope for everyone who reads here that this will be a year of health and happiness.  Traditionally, one eats an apple for sweetness.  It's hard to imagine that there's ever been a month, let alone a year, where the whole planet was at peace at once, and it doesn't seem likely that we'll achieve that now, but–against all odds, I hope we find peace, in our own lives and in the whole world.

Ready for Take-Off (or getting there)

We launch Hardball on September 22, and I'm slowly getting ready.  We had t-shirts made (be sure to join the raffle if you want one) I've done a few interviews, including the chance to take part in NPR's "You Must Read This" series.  I'll be launching the tour at Barnes & Noble in Old Orchard at 7:30 on September 22, but I'll be doing some stock signings during the day, including one at Women & Children First at 5 p.m.

I had to have some rotten bone dug out of my jaw last week and a bone...

Writing in Slow Motion

After I wrote about Richard Poirier, and his desire that we "read in slow motion," I started thinking about all the things that are better done slowly.

Nicole Hollander once did a Sylvia episode that shows the devil offering a man "life in the fast lane" in exchange for his soul: "Fast cars, fast women, fast food."

The Slow Food movement encourages us to savor what we eat, and pay attention to it, instead of wolfing down a burger and fries on the run.

I have to do about 40 minutes of exercises e...

Strange Times for Books

"I shall always treasure my books, but I shall do so for antiquarian reasons alone.  I am at the same time tremendously excited, as a reader and learner, by the possibility of someday soon being able to carry the equivalent of the Library of Congress in the palm of my hand.  That will be the realization of humanity's dream since the inception of discovery hundreds of thousands of years ago."

Thus spake the headmaster of the $42,850 a year Cushing Academy in Massachusetts, as he announced the s...

V I, The T-Shirt

We created a t-shirt to celebrate V I's return to business.  They'll be available as raffle items at the stores where I'll be on tour, but I'm also holding a raffle through my website so that people who want shirts and can't make it to my tour events can have a chance to get one.  My husband took these snapshots on our backporch: the back shows the Hardball jacket cover, the front is a silhouette of V I, with the message, "V I is Back."  If you want to join the raffle, just send an e-mail to ...